These days
by LadyCoraCrawley
Summary: Robert and Cora and baby Mary in the days leading up to them becoming Earl and Countess of Grantham
1. Chapter 1

Robert and Cora were lying side by side in bed in Cora's bedroom. Cora was curled up with her head resting on Robert's chest. Robert however could not sleep. He was worried. Worried because his father Earl of Grantham was extremely ill and nobody knew how much time he had left and how long it would be before Robert and Cora were the Earl and Countess of Grantham. Cora could tell that her husband was not asleep so she got up and kisses Robert on the cheek.

"Robert what is the matter with you?"

"Oh sorry did I wake you?"

"No because I haven't been able to sleep with you constantly twitching now tell me what is the matter with you!"

"It is nothing my love go back to sleep" Cora gave him a stern glance because she could tell when her husband was upset or angry about something. "Is it because I din't give you a son but instead we had a daughter?" Cora had recently just given birth to Mary about a month ago and Robert knew that she was still a little bit upset at the fact they needed sons.

"Cora there is no way on this planet that is why! I love Mary very much and she means more to me than any son ever will, and you must never think that you have done wrong by giving me the greatest gift of all" With that Robert pressed a kiss to her forehead. Cora looked up at him her eyes full of tears. "Thank you for saying that and I know that you love Mary very muc and you have made me that happiest woman alive by marrying me. I love you Robert"

"I love you too Cora" Cora leant down and gave him a passionate kiss but broke it before anything else could happen.

"No wait Robert stop you must tell me what has been troubling you"

"Oh Cora you do know how to make a man wait don't you" Cora winked at him and then nodded showing that he should continue. "Well you see I am so worried about us becoming Earl and Countess of Grantham, I worry that my father does not have long left and I don't feel as if I am ready to take over the running of the estate"

"Robert Crawley you are more than ready to take over Downton and you won't be alone because you will have be to lean because I will be the Countess alongside you!" Robert then suddenly remember their wedding day, it had been so lovely the only thing was they married for the wrong reasons but then about a year later he finally came to terms with the fact that he had fallen in love with Cora.

"Oh Cora you do not realise how happy you have made me and I know that I will be able to get through all of this with you by my side and now we have little Mary to look after" a huge grin spread across Cora face as he said this because she knew that they both loved Mary more than life itself. She once again kissed him passionately but this time she lingered for longer and became to climb her way on top of him. Slowly she began to unbutton his pyjama shirt but Robert couldn't take it any longer, he knew his valet wouldn't be to happy about that in the morning. He then managed to pull of Cora's nightdress without ripping that to pieces as he knew he'd have hell to pay in the morning if Cora found out he'd ripped her favourite night dress. She began to leave kisses all the way down his stomach she was moving at an extremely slow pace, until Robert could not take it any more and he had to release. He felt her vibrate with pleasure as she nearly screamed his name and hands clenched onto his chest. They then both collapsed on top of each other

"Lady Cora that was brilliant" Robert whispered in her ear with a wink

"Robert" She swatted his arm and then relaxed back into his arms knowing they had to sleep because they would be woken up by the nanny because Mary needed feeding. Cora had insisted she was going to do it herself and Robert loved her even more for this.

Sure enough as the clock struck three, Lady Mary's nanny knocked on the door with a wailing baby in her arms.

"What ungodly hour is this?" He said as he climbed out of bed and collected Mary from the Nanny. "Thank you Jones but you do not need to come back to collect Lady Mary when she has been fed I will take her back to the nursery as Lady Cora is very tired.

"If you're sure my lord then I'll say goodnight" The nanny said as she handed over the baby.

"Quite sure goodnight Jones" Robert said as he carried Mary into their bedroom and shut the door softly behind him. When he turned around Cora was at up in bed waiting to receive Mary so she could be fed. "Why did you send the nanny away Robert?" she asked as she unbutton her nightdress to feed Mary.

"Because I wanted to spend the evening with my girls" Robert said as he gently lowered his daughter into his wife's arm. He watch as she put her close to her chest and as Mary began to feed, at first Robert had been extremely English about it and very embarrassed but after Cora made him stay he realised it was actually quite wonderful. Robert made sure that all the pillows were built high around Cora and that she had one underneath her arm.

"Robert do you know you are truly a wonderful man" Cora whispered careful not to agitate Mary

"I know" he said with a wink. Once Mary was done feeding Robert lifted her from his wife and carried her over to look out of the window out into the dark night. "One day Mary I will take you around the estate me you and mama and we will play in the snow and climb trees I promise you that" Robert whispered into his daughter's ear

"Your mama won't like the climbing trees bit you do realise!" Cora laughed as she lay down and rearranged the pillows so that she could have Mary lying on her chest.

"I know she won't but soon I feel she may be moving into the Dower house so she doesn't need to worry about what we do with our children during the day!" Robert walked back over to the bad and gently placed the now sleeping infant back onto his wife's chest and then crept round to the other side where he slid and turned to face his family. He watched as Mary rose up and down with every breath his beautiful wife took. Cora caught him looking and smiled down at her daughter.

"We've done good you know, considering what our first year of marriage was like" She said as she edged closer towards him careful not to wake the sleeping baby.

"I know but look how good we are know, we have a beautiful daughter and I have the loveliest wife in the whole country!" Once he had said this Cora had finally managed to move closer to him and was now laying comfortably under his arm. She kissed him on the check and slowly they both began to fall asleep.

Thanks for reading! Please review. The next Chapter will be up by the end of the weekend. Any ideas please leave in the comments!


	2. Chapter 2

These days chapter 2

When Mrs Hughes went into wake Lady Grantham the next morning she was not surprised to find his Lordship asleep there too. She was glad of this though because she remembered the days when they were first married when her Ladyship was so lonely and upset all the time. However she was surprised to find little Lady Mary Crawley nestled between her parents. She gently pulled back the curtains and let the sunlight stream through the windows. Cora slowly began to stir and was careful not to wake her husband and daughter. She motioned to Mrs Hughes who helped her to climb out of bed without waking anyone. Seeing as Cora had only given birth not long ago she was still a little weak from it so did require some help. Cora was pleased to see that Mrs Hughes had already run her a bath.

"Oh Mrs Hughes you do know me well" Cora chuckled as she sat down on the chair in the bathroom.

"Its nothing milady" She said as she helped her Ladyship into the bath, and set about fetching the soap from off the cupboard and making sure a towel was waiting nearby.

"Please could you take Lady Mary back to the nursery before his lordship wakes up because Lady Grantham is having luncheon with us"

"Of course milady will there be anything else" Mrs Hughes laid down the towel on the side of the bath.

"No nothing thank you" Cora said as she climbed into the bath. She heard Mrs Hughes pick up Mary because she heard a soft whimpering and she felt her heart might break because she was not with her but she need to get ready for Lady Grantham and all the insults and sarcasm that came with her. She slowly padded out back into her bedroom and looked up when she saw Robert sat up in bed looking quite awake considering he had just been woken up and she knew that her husband did not like being woken up unless by her.

"Good morning darling, Mrs Hughes took Mary back to the nursery so I am going to get dressed and go down there for a little while until mama gets here for lunch" Cora said as she walked over to him and kissed him on the cheek, she knew she could not show any affection around his mama however she could do it in the space of her own bedroom and Mrs Hughes didn't seem in the slightest bit embarrassed, however today they both needed to be ready. "Mrs Hughes is going to be back soon to help me get dressed so you need to go into your dressing room I think Carson is up there waiting for you" Robert slowly began to climb out of the bed but before Cora had a chance to walk away he pulled her down onto his lap.

"You didn't think I'd let you go without a little kiss did you?" He asked in a mock serious tone

"Robert come on Carson is waiting for you and we really need to get up" Cora swatted his arm and tried to stand up however the weight of Robert's arms held her down and in the end she gave up trying and turned to face her husband. "Fine but then you really do need to get up!" with that Cora put her arms around his neck and leant in to kiss him. She smelt so good to Robert she was wearing her lavender scent which he loved. He gratefully returned her passionate kiss and they continued until they both had to break for air.

"That was lovely my dear, but I really mustn't be held up by my wife wanting to spend all day in bed with me!" Robert said with sarcasm evident in his voice.

"Oh really is that so" Cora replied as she went to reach the bell to ring for Mrs Hughes" well if you think like that you probably haven't got time to spend with me in here this evening?" She looked at him with mock concern and then shooed him out of the room

An hour later Cora had gone down to the nursery to see Mary and Robert was attending to some business in his study. Cora decided to take Mary out of the nursery to go on a walk around the house. She picked Mary up and lifted her into her arms. Mary snuggled in closer to Cora's chest and sighed contently. As Cora was leaving the nursery the nanny was just climbing the stairs from the great hall.

"Oh Jones you can have a couple of hours off now because I've got Mary so you don't need to worry" Cora smiled as she watched her daughter in her arms

"Of course milady, are you planning on take Lady Mary outside because it is cold out and I would hate for Lady Mary to catch a fever" Jones asked.

Cora looked at the nanny and realised how kind she was and it made her feel even happier to know that Mary had a nanny who was very helpful and seemed to know what she was doing

"Oh yes thank you, please could you leave some clothes on my bed and then if we do decide to go outside I can find the clothes quickly" Cora thanked the kind nanny and then walked off down the stairs. She was careful when holding Mary whilst she walked down the stairs, she would hate anything to hurt her baby and if it was her she would never forgive herself. Nobody would ever harm her daughter while she was alive. Once she had made it down the stairs she decided to go and see if Robert was in his study. To her surprise he wasn't and she wondered where on earth he had got to after saying that he had a lot of paperwork to attend to. She decided to go and check the library, but when he wasn't in there Cora really didn't know where he was. He wouldn't be in the Kitchen's now, all the business he had to go through with Carson was sorted so surely he must be around the estate somewhere. Cora looked out of the window and suddenly saw Isis bounding towards the window and sure enough her owner Robert wasn't far behind. "Isis come her girl, there's a good girl"

Cora went to the front door and stepped outside, the harsh wind sent a chill through her body and she pulled the blanket up tighter over Mary who was sleeping soundly in her mothers arm. Robert saw his wife and daughter and walk over, he bent down and kissed his wife on the check and stroked Mary's porcelain face.

"Cora I wasn't expecting you out now" Robert said whilst he watched his wife and daughter.

"No I was looking for you but couldn't find you so when I saw you I thought I would come and welcome you back from your walk" Cora said as another shiver went through her. Even thought it was March it was still cold.

"Come on lets get you two inside, I don't want you both to catch a fever, do you want me to take her?" Robert said as Carson opened the front door for them both. "Thank you Carson" Robert said as Cora placed Mary in his arms

"Excuse me your Ladyship but Luncheon will be served in ten minutes and I believe your all dining with Lord and Lady Grantham" Carson said as Robert handed him his hat

"Ah yes thank you Carson that will be all" with that the butler took his leave" Robert will you take Mary up to the nursery and once your done come down here to meet you mother and father" Cora asked as she straightened out her clothes. She knew she had better do it before Violet came down because she was too tired to be insulted; however she was surprised to hear that Patrick was coming for luncheon. Patrick was still extremely ill and no one knew how much time he had left. Nevertheless she was glad he was coming because when she first moved to England he had always been so kind and she felt she could repay some of that kindness shown now.

Soon enough Violet and Patrick arrived downstairs after spending the morning together in their private chambers. Robert saw Dr. Clarkson leave around eleven and was sure that can't have been a good thing. Soon enough it was time to go through for Luncheon. Violet and Patrick seemed a lot happier then they had looked in a long time. Luncheon passed and everyone was a great dear happier than before, Violet had been particularly nice to Cora throughout the whole meal and said that her hair was looking very nice. After Luncheon when all the couples were sat in the drawing room Patrick said something rather unexpected "Cora would you bring Mary down here so I can see her?" Cora was rather taken aback by this as she knew Violet didn't normally agree with having babies down in the drawing room "Cora you needn't look so shocked my dear," Violet said with a chuckle "we just simply want to see our granddaughter" Cora couldn't believe what she was hearing however she just got up and went to collect her daughter from the nursery. Once she had left the room she let her smile spread across her face, Violet had never been so nice to her before and she was quite enjoying having some nice attention from her normally acid tongue mother in law. Once she'd got Mary she was back down the stairs in no time as she didn't want Violet to change her mind. She took a deep breath and smiled as Carson opened the door.

"Ah here's my lovely granddaughter" Patrick beamed as he got up to greet Cora. He had actually never held Mary because at the time of her birth he had been fighting an infection and he didn't want to pass it on, but now although he was still dying no one could catch his illness so he thought it would be fine to hold her. "Cora would you mind if I held her?" Patrick said as he sat down

"Why of course not, here you go" Cora placed Mary into her father in law's arm she whimpered at first but then stopped and started cooing and then she grabbed on to his fingers. "Watch her head" whispered Violet. Cora and Robert were both stunned into silence because they couldn't believe the scene that was unfolding, they had never seem Violet be so maternal. The afternoon soon turned into the evening and it grew near to the dress gong "We should really return up to change" Robert said as he glanced at his pocket watch that his father had given him for his tenth birthday.

"Ah yes," replied Violet who now had Mary in her arms "here you go Cora, I'll let you take her up" Violet said as she gazed at the small baby in her arms but then lifted her up to Cora who was smiling down at them both.

"Thank you Mama" Cora said as she picked up her daughter and went to leave the room "if you'll please excuse me"

"Cora wait" Violet stood up " Just so you know she really is the most beautiful darling granddaughter anyone could wish for, and you are a truly wonderful mother" Violet smiled at her daughter in law not sure how she would react considering Violet didn't often say nice things . Cora beamed a huge smile "Thank you Mama, that really was quite unexpected!" with that Cora left. As soon as Carson had shut the door behind her she allowed the tears that had been forming in her eyes to finally fall. Violet had never been so nice to her in all of her time at Downton. Of course Robert had always stuck up for her in the two years they had been married, but now she really felt like she belonged.

Dinner passed smoothly and after a while it was time for both couples to retire. Patrick and Violet went up first as it was clear that Patrick was exhausted from the day. Cora and Robert went through and had a drink before going up.

"Well today was brilliant my love, you were marvellous" Robert whispered in Cora's ear

"I still can't believe this day actually happened, I now finally feel like your mother has accepted me into the family and I feel we have made our peace with each other" Cora said as she moved closer to Robert and snuggled against him. Robert breathed in the scent of her hair, it smelt like roses.

"Yes, I was quite surprised to see Papa today, maybe he's recovering now and he was wonderful with Mary?"

"Yes he was, however Robert you still must prepare for the worst and that soon you and I will be taking over the running of Downton" Cora said she looked up at his face to see his reaction

"Yes I know and when the times comes we will both be ready to face it together, Come on Darling lets go to bed" With that Robert stood up and held out a hand to Cora.

Over the next few days Patrick's condition began to get a lot serious, the Doctor had given him only a few days to live. Violet of course was distraught and Cora had never seen her show so much emotion. However one night near the end of March, Patrick Crawley surrounded by his wife and all of his family including Rosamund and Marmaduke had travelled up from London passed away peacefully in his sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

These days 3- this chapter won't just be Cora and Robert but the rest of the family too, I will try and get back to just those two next time unless you prefer it like this?

It had been a week since Patrick Crawley had passed away. The family were of course distraught and the house had never seen darker days. All the staff were equally upset as they have lost a great leader. Even the village had gone into a state of mourning for the Earl of Grantham.

Since Patrick had passed away and the house seemed all to quiet to Cora, she had loved Patrick like her own father and knew it would take the whole family time to recover from this. Earlier that day Robert had travelled down to London along with Rosamund and Marmaduke who were going home after the funeral two days ago. Robert really didn't want to go and leave Cora but he knew he had to as it was about his father's will. He had promised to be back late this evening and that she was not to wait up for him, however he knew his wife and he knew that she would be wide awake until he arrived home.

After Cora was dressed she decided to go and take Mary out of the nursery for a little while and maybe take her for a walk around the grounds. She walked past Violet's wing on the way to the nursery she hadn't seen her much as Violet mainly kept to her room at the moment and ate up there too. When she finally reached the nursery she could hear a soft voice through the open door. She stopped at the door when she realised whose voice it was. It was Violets. She could hear her mother in law talking to her daughter like she knew wanted to let her go.

"Now just remember that your Granddad loved you very much, ok and you must never forget this" Violet whispered and Cora's heart broke as she heard this. It made her think of what it would be like to lose her husband, however she quickly pushed this thought out of her mind. She gently pushed the door open hoping to get a better look and hope it would creak, luckily it didn't and Cora saw something she never thought she would see. Violet was set in the rocking chair facing the grounds with Mary lying quietly asleep in her arms. Cora could feel her heart bursting and her eyes were filling up with tears. She quietly snuck out of the door deciding that she would come back later as she didn't want to spoil this moment and she didn't want Violet to know she had been watching from the door. She then remembered that she needed to meet with Mrs Patmore to tend to this weeks menu. Beryl Patmore was new to the job but everyone agreed she was one of the best cooks Downton had ever seen. It was coming up to Robert and Cora's two year wedding anniversary and Cora had a special request she wanted to ask Mrs Patmore. When she reached the stairs to the kitchen she smoothed her skirt down and made her way downstairs. She reach the bottom of the stairs and headed straight for the kitchen, as it was the middle of the day there were people running around everywhere but they all stop when her Ladyship walked in.

"Ah Carson, I wonder if you know where Mrs Patmore is?" Cora couldn't find her in the kitchen so instead she asked the friendly butler.

"I believe she is in the stock cupboard milady sure I go and get her for you?" Carson was a kind man and he particularly liked Cora not just because she was beautiful but also because she had warmth about her that the other Lady Grantham didn't, but he would never tell anyone that.

"Thank You Carson" She nodded to him and walked off to wait in the kitchen, normally Cora would meet with the cook in her sitting room but this was the first time of meeting the new cook properly and Cora wanted her to feel comfortable so decided it would be better to meet in somewhere the cook found familiar. Not long after Beryl Patmore appeared at the door.

"I do apologise milady, I hope you weren't waiting long" Mrs Patmore had a scared look on her face at the prospect of meeting her employer for the first time to go over the menus for the week. Although Mrs Patmore was young she was older than Cora but eve so she did feel somewhat intimidated by her.

"Oh no not long, here is no need to look so scared I am only here to go over the weekly menus and I also have a special request to make" Mrs Patmore instantly relaxed, "I'm so sorry please sit down" Cora extended her arm to a chair nearby.

"Thank you, I do hope last nights dinner was up to standards?" Mrs Patmore was hopeful and easily pleased by praise

"Quite delicious, but I want to ask you something" Cora looked quite worried at the prospect of asking something even though it was her house and she was in charge, " You may know that it is myself and his Lordship's two year wedding anniversary coming up" Cora looked at the cook to test her reaction

"Oh yes Milady I was aware of that"

"Well I was wondering if you could make some of your delicious pear tart on that night as I know it is his Lordship's favourite"

"Milady it would be my pleasure" Cora face instantly relaxed too

"That is wonderful now about this week's menu"

About an hour later Cora had finished with Mrs Patmore, the menu's had been decided and she had made her way back upstairs. She thought over to Mary and wondered if Violet was still up there. She decided to go up and check. All was quiet outside the nursery so Cora pushed the door open and found Mary was cooing to herself quietly in the cot.

"Hello my darling" Cora lent down and picked her daughter up, "There's a good little girl" Mary smiled at the sight of her mother and giggled to herself. Cora took Mary in her arms and made her way over to the very same armchair she had seen Violet sat in earlier. She sat down and settled Mar onto her chest. She looked out of the window and saw Isis running across the Lawn. She was a puppy so was very energetic at the moment. Robert would normally walk her over to the cottages and back but as he was in London he had instructed his valet to do so. She laughed as she saw one of the footmen running after her, she couldn't tell who it was however. Cora watched Mary and stroked her body as Mary cooed and nestled down back to sleep. Cora suddenly felt quite sleepy, she had to wake up three times last night because Mary was hungry or just needed her mother so she closed her eyes and relaxed her body into he rocking chair. She felt her eyelids grow heavy and she fell asleep listening to Mary's soft breathing.

When Mary's nanny came in a few hours later she was quite shocked to see her Ladyship asleep with Lady Mary resting on her chest. She wasn't quite sure what to do and how to wake her ladyship, in the end she just went over and gently touched her Ladyship on the shoulder, finally she awoke.

"I'm so sorry Milady but the dressing gong has just rung and I thought you would want to be woken" Jones watched as her ladyship's eyes widened

"The dressing gong! When I fell asleep it was only a while after luncheon!" Cora seemed quite shocked at how long she had slept for" I only shut my eyes for five minutes"

"Not to worry Milady the gong has only just rung, and it's just you and the Dowager Countess this evening" Cora carefully sat up and placed Mary into the kind nanny's arms

"Oh right thank you Jones, I'll be back to say goodnight to Mary once I am changed" Cora kissed Mary on the cheek and left the room. Cora made her way back to her bedroom, she missed Robert although he had only left early this morning, but she didn't get to see him. It would feel strange at dinner with just his mother and no Patrick or Robert. Patrick, she thought back to the last meal she had shared with him. It was the one where she had brought Mary down to the library, the one in which her and Robert has been so shocked by his mother maternal instinct.

Half an hour later Cora was ready to go down to the dining room. For some reason she felt nervous, as if she was being sent to the Head teacher's office, she didn't know why though. When she reached the end of the steps and walked through into the library to wait for Carson to announce dinner was ready she was quite shocked to find Violet already sitting there by the fire.

"Good evening Mama" Cora wasn't really sure what to say to a grieving woman

"Cora dear" She looked up and gave a slight smile. Cora returned it but wasn't really sure what to do know

"How are you?" Ok now she felt really stupid, you don't ask a grieving woman how she is!

"I'm ok, I have to be" Violet could feel her eyes misting up with tears but knew that she shouldn't be crying in front of an American.

"Its ok, you can show your emotions mama, you don't need to hide them from me, I understand" Cora smiled gently at the older woman.

"Oh you understand do you? Of course because you know what its like to not have a husband any more, you understand what its like to be a widow. Forgive me Cora but I really don't think you do! Violet snapped, but then instantly regretted it; in the end Cora was only trying to be kind. "I'm sorry I didn't mean it like that" Cora was rather taken aback by all this and then had to regain the strength of answer.

"No its fine don't worry, but I do understand what its like to live without out a husband, Robert fought in the war and those nights when he wasn't here was the hardest thing I have ever done, so thank you but I really don't think you can tell me what its like to miss your husband" She hadn't meant it to sound quite so powerful but it just had.

"Of course I'm sorry I hadn't meant to cause offence, please can we change the subject as I feel that talking about this isn't going to help much, how's Mary?" Violet asked trying to cover up her mistakes.

"Oh Yes she is fine thank you" Cora was pleased she had changed the subject, she wanted to say something about when she saw Violet in the nursery earlier, but then decided against it.

"Good, we still need to sort out her christening" Mary was just over a month old but in all the other things that had happened, it had been forgotten.

"Yes we must, I spoke to Robert about it and he said sometime after all the funeral and will is all sorted out" Cora knew Violet was keen to have Mary christened but it felt inappropriate to do it at such a time. Suddenly they were interrupted by Carson.

"Dinner is served Milady" Carson held open the door as the two women made their way through to the dining room. Dinner passed with no drama, and soon enough it was over. Violet had decided to go straight up, however Cora made her way back through to the library. She could never really sleep when Robert wasn't there no matter how tired she was. She settled herself down into one of the chairs and pulled her book from the shelf. There was no point going up to Mary now because she was asleep and she didn't want the hassle of getting her back to sleep again. Then she remember that O'Brien would still be up waiting for her to change into her nightclothes.

"Carson would you please tell O'Brien that I won't be needing her tonight as I am going to be late up" Cora didn't want to tell anyone that the real reason she wasn't in bed is that she couldn't sleep without her husband.

"Of course you ladyship" The butler nodded and left the room. Cora quickly hurried after him.

"Oh and Carson, you can go downstairs now to, I appreciate that it is very late" Cora smiled at the butler who was only about ten years older than herself.

"If your sure?" Carson would worry about leaving her upstairs by herself at night even though he knew it was safe

"Quite sure, goodnight Carson"

"Goodnight your ladyship" With that Carson made his way downstairs and Cora went back to the library.

It was sometime when Robert came home, he walked into the library to find Cora asleep under a blanket, she looked beautiful when she was asleep with her hair all over the place. He walked over to her and gently scooped her up into his arms.

"Robert" She whispered and a small smile came over the lips

"Yes dear, now go back to sleep I'll carry you upstairs" Robert looked down at his wife in his arms and couldn't believe that they had been married for nearly two years. He felt a twinge of guilt because Cora knows he didn't love her then, but looking back he was so stupid, and when he finally confessed his love he knew that he was meant to be married to Cora. Finally he had managed to carry all the way to their bedroom, she wasn't normally so heavy, but he was tired too. He gently placed her down onto their bed, she was wearing her evening dress he had brought her only a few months ago, and the price it had cost meant there was no way she was sleeping in that! Cora looked exhausted so he began manoeuvre her dress off, but it wasn't really working in the end he just nudge her slightly and hoped she would wake up.

"Cora darling, wakeup I need to get you undressed" Robert watched as his wife blinked at him a few times.

"Robert, there are buttons on my back help me?" Cora turned and felt his strong hands working their way down her back. He softly took the dress down fro her shoulders and pulled it to the floor. She was stoop their in her underwear, while he went off to get her nightclothes.

"Thank you darling" Cora said when he handed then to her. "You go and get changed and hurry up" With that Robert sped into his dressing room

When he had finally finished, he returned back through and found Cora was already snuggled in bed. He walked over, pulled back the covers and climbed. Cora moved over towards him and laid her head on his chest.

"How was London?" Cora began drawing invisible patterns on his chest.

"Oh yes, it was alright we got everything sorted luckily, any longer and I thought I was going to explode from boredom!" He chuckled at this, "How was yours, I trust everything was alright with Mama at dinner"

"Yes it was fine although I really must tell you something that happened today regarding mama" Robert groaned at this

"Oh no what did she do?" Cora smirked at this.

"No nothing like that, it was just I walked into the nursery earlier and found mama sat on the rocking chair with Mary in her arms talking about your father, I stood at the door for a while just listening but then decided I shouldn't make myself known so went back to my room"

"Well I never" Robert looked astonished, Cora laughed at his face, and then a she let out a yawn. "Come on sleepy head its time we went to sleep don't you think, we can talk about Mama in the morning" Cora moved so that she was snuggled in his arms, she felt so safe when she was there.

"I love you Robert"

"I love you too Cora, so very much" With that they snuggled down to sleep together, they were young with a family and blissfully in love. Robert couldn't remember being happier.

However in another wing, Violet was still awake, she had cried fresh tears and didn't really know what to do, the room seemed so big with just her in it. Earlier she had seen Robert carry Cora upstairs to her bedroom, luckily they hadn't seen her but it reminded her of the time when she would wait up for Patrick. It was that night she decided its time to move to the Dower House. There were to many memories of her and Patrick.


End file.
